Abbey and More

I saw a quote recently that made me smile... it said

A Patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.

I thought this was pretty good so I looked it up and found it was said by Edward Abbey whom was an American writer that was controversial in his own realm. He pissed off both liberals and conservatives by taking stances that were claimed by both "sides" of the party line.

Abbey passed away in 1989 which to me was before the modern time where it was commonplace to rebel publicly against the government or even the "norm". Before this time, they were called hippies, but with Abbey supporting the NRA among other conservative concepts, I don't think I'd call him a hippie. Here are some of his other quotes that I liked:

• May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.
• The tragedy of modern war is that the young men die fighting each other - instead of their real enemies back home in the capitals. (how true is this one????)
• Society is like a stew. If you don't stir it up every once in a while then a layer of scum floats to the top.
• A drink a day keeps the shrink away. (Why can't I die with a quote like that credited to me?

And for my fans out west:

• There is science, logic, reason; there is thought verified by experience. And then there is California.

I think the cool part about his death was his friends burying his body in the desert unmarked in order to satisfy his desire to have his body fertilize a "cactus, a cliffrose, a sagebrush or a tree." I'll have to add that to my will.

On a separate note - I am ready to crush my iTrip (FM transmitter designed for iPods) with a hammer. I get so much static with it no matter what station I use. I asked a guy at Best Buy if I have an Aux input that I could put a stereo plug into the back of my factory stereo and he said most likely no I wouldn't. I don't want to pull the dash apart in my Trailblazer just to be disappointed but I still don't believe the guy. Not sure if I just stop by the Chevy dealership if they'd share that information with me or not. I know it's the same stereo that they use if I would have gotten the drop down DVD player for the back seat (Drew wanted me to get this... I think for his benefit more than mine), and it would plug into the back of my same stereo somehow. Plus the stereo has an "AUX" button.... I should just stop by Chevy tomorrow and ask.

Otherwise, anyone have any suggestions for a good quality FM transmitter? I want something that is easier to change than the first generation iTrips. I also am looking for something with a full range of stations, not just 3 or 4 like my one from Monster had. When I drive through the cities, they have fewer blank stations than does Southeastern Minnesota.

My first of three golf lessons starts today - we'll see if it helps tonight at league. Game 7 Thursday night in Raleigh - DON'T MISS IT!!!

Video of the Day - There's a common theme today. Paul Gleason passed away on Monday. He was most famous for playing the role of Principal Richard Vernon ("Dick") in The Breakfast Club. I think everyone in America has seen that movie at least once. I also remember him in Trading Places and Van Wilder. He had some of the best quotes in that movie including "Don't mess with the bull young man... you'll get the horns". This was in response to "Does Barry Manilow know that you raid his wardrobe?" And another good one: "What if your home, what if your family, what if your dope was on fire?" and Bender's response "Impossible sir, it's in Johnson's underwear".

Song of the Day - of course with the Breakfast Club theme today, you have to listen to Simple Minds and Don't You Forget About Me. What all of us thought would be our Prom Theme after seeing that movie for the first time. Will you recognize me? Call my name, or walk on by? Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling.... down... down DOWN. HEY HEY HEY HEY!!!

Webpage of the Day - The infamous "joke" has it's own webpage. Judd Nelson tells the following as he's crawling through the rafters back into the Library:

A naked blond walks into a bar, with a poodle under one arm, and a two foot salami under the other. She lays the poodle on the table. Bartender says, "I suppose you won't be needing a drink." The naked lady says...

Well there are submissions of fans punchlines for the joke that was never finished... but a recent interview in Premier Magazine with Judd Nelson reveals: "I made the joke up. My line when I fall into the room is, 'I forgot my pencil', so we were trying to work backward from that but what joke would have that punchline?"

Happy Day After Memorial Day

What a nice (although way too hot) weekend! Hazel and I went to Cedar Rapids (where a lot of your cereal is made... too bad it wasn't Crunch Berry Day! I love that smell!) for the weekend to hang out with the parental units. I had a great relaxing birthday on Saturday (thanks for all the bday wishes!) and we went shopping down in Williamsburg at the Tanger Outlet Center. I remember when that place first opened and there were only a dozen or so shops. You could go down and be done in about an hour. Now they have 50+ stores and it took us a good 5+ hours to go through the whole thing. Found some great deals with all of the Memorial Day sales going on top of the outlet type prices. I'm cheap like that! We grilled up some pork chops that night and relaxed.

The fun came on Sunday. We hit up Brucemore in Cedar Rapids which is a historical mansion that you can tour and visit. They have nice gardens, but the house itself is what makes it so cool. Built in 1871 (or so), it has been preserved to look like the original house and has a lot of antiques in it. Well worth the $8 if you're in Cedar Rapids. The best part of the house is the Tiki room in the basement. The third owner of the house when he would entertain his male friends, they would head down to this room that has the feel of a little shak or bar in Tahiti. He has a metal roof for the ceiling and then has water that comes down the ceiling and down the sides of the room to make you feel like you're being rained on in Tahiti. How awesome is that?!?!?!

Sunday night we went to Disco in the District over in the Quad Cities. The Travoltas finally came on stage at 10pm and played an incredible set! We left a little early since we had an hour+ drive home but now I'm pumped for Disco. I had the outfit going on as well - unfortunately Hazel has those pictures on her camera so I'll have to share them at a later time.

It's already Tuesday, and the first with no American Idol! So I can get some more stuff done around the house tonight finally. And for those that are wondering, being 29 feels just the same as being 28.

Song of the Day - Why does everyone think that Dancing Queen is the only ABBA song out there? The Travoltas broke out the Take A Chance On Me and that's a great song! Mom loved it! I'm glad my folks enjoyed it as much as I did! Next year, I'll get them to dress the part as well.

Video of the Day - I watched Just Friends this weekend that has Ryan Reynolds, Amy Smart, and Chris Klein. It was pretty dang funny and made me laugh. Reynolds is the former fat kid from high school and now 10 years later is a successful California guy that is still in love with his "BFF" female friend from High School. Some of the things he says and does is a riot. Plus his typical relationship with his younger brother is great. Check it out for those of you on Netflix.

Webpage of the Day - PSA for Kahn..... I know you use Jessica Simpson's baby shampoo but it's been recalled for safety concerns. All the rest of you perverts will have to return your shampoo as well. Suds 'N Studs is seriously the name of it.

It's MY Birthday!!!

It's a Birthday Extravaganza in Rochester this weekend. Happy Birthday to Kristi (that's Mama Kristi now) today! And Happy Birthday to Matt on Monday (soon to be Papa Matt - any hour now)! Plus my birthday is tomorrow:) We actually had a rare occurrence two years ago when Kristi celebrated her 26th Bday on the 26th, my 27th was on the 27th and Matt (the old man in the group) had his 29th on the 29th! Three Golden Birthdays in 4 days so of course we celebrated!! I think this year the celebrations will be focused for them on the new babies, me on Disco Dancing in Davenport!

So yes, I was a good boy and brought in donuts for the team this morning.... and I have Root Beer Floats for an early lunch and present for anyone headed out early for the long weekend. Starting at 10:30 sounds good for anyone on IBM site today!

Hazel's back from Boston after some delays due to weather. She was off the plane around 11:30 and home after midnight but that's what long weekends are for... catching up!

Some exciting Hockey and Basketball playoff action last night. Miami almost pulled off a miracle comeback but instead it's tied at 1-1. I wouldn't mind seeing the Heat in the Finals vs the Suns. Shaq might be a big boy, but you have to give him credit for getting in the best shape of his life to get a championship this year. And Hockey has Edmonton cruising and hopefully against Buffalo in the finals.

If anyone's in the Quad Cities this Sunday and wants to join us for some Disco in the District Sunday, let me know and we'll meet up with you. The Travoltas always throw out a good time!

Have a great weekend everyone! Have a piece of birthday cake wherever you are for me!!!

Song of the Day - I dedicate today's song to my friends from Hunky's who gave me some fond memories of Country Night. Besides, I heard that damn Big, Hillbilly, and Rich song at Wal-Mart this morning as I was getting icecream. The "coming to your city" song that I had to hear every 45 minutes during tailgating last year. Something about a little wing in your wing wang. Tastes like a little bit of Wang!

Video of the Day - I watched most of the movie Desperation that was on ABC Tuesday night (why would you go up against American Idol Finale.... idiots) which is a Stephen King novel. I have not read that one, but the movie is your typical 3 hour made for TV movie that has some actors/actresses that you recognize but can't place. It also shows off how low budget it is and usually misses the mark compared to his books. It was a good example of a poor movie made after an incredible book. I have about 30 minutes left but it just wasn't a huge priority to finish last night.

Webpage(s) of the Day - One of the things that I like to do is read on Wikipedia what happened on a specific date in History. It's a very thorough list and today I leave the Birthday Dates for those affected. You can type in your own birthday and find out who you share it with, etc. I used to share my bday with Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes and Wild Bill Hickok. We miss you Left Eye!

May 26th
May 27th
May 29th

American Idol Finale

Taylor Hicks wins American Idol (Mom, it's "the grey haired guy") in a 2 hour spectacular that I'm sure rocked the ratings for Fox. Here are my thoughts:

The past champions that they bring back look so much more natural when they sing than the current contestants. I will give them props as there was a lot of music that they had to learn. Granted the words are on a screen in the back for them to follow, but still - there was a lot of cheezy songs that we'd all wish wouldn't have been sung to go through and choreograph.

The duets thing was pretty cool.... Al Jarreau with Paris, Chris with Live (ok.... this was maybe the best part of the first half), Hicks with an older but still attractive Toni Braxton (who I think was making the moves on Taylor the whole time), and the other ones that I am trying to forget. I'm sorry, Meat Loaf has seen his better days, and I CAN'T STAND MARY J BLIGE who again murdered U2's One. For about 5 seconds I thought that U2 was going to come out to sing with Elliott.... how cool would that be? Would Paula still cry is the better question....

The segments that got me upset were the ones with my least favorite Kellie Pickler who had the extreme opportunity to eat with Wolfgang Puck. How cool is that? And how much of a fool did she make of herself? One of the most recognizable names in the food business and she acts like a 5 year old at the dinner table including hiding the escargot and freaking out when a Lobster was put on her table. Sorry, she annoys me too much.

More cheezy songs with the guys and girls singing.... blah blah... could have made this an hour show. And most of the awards they gave out for "worst performances" were also skippable. EXCEPT.... the fruity Die Hard Clay Aiken fan that won for best impersonation. That was pretty funny in my opinion to watch him wig out when the real Clay came out on stage. Some people don't have a clue. Clay actually looks more normal now than he did in season 2. Jeremy, you should have been watching to see your boy!

And then we get to the best part of the night.... no, not the actual results (which took all of 3 minutes out of the entire 2 hours) and no, not the 20 minute segment with Burt Bacharach songs that were cool 20 years ago. Now there were a lot of big names on that stage last night. But none of them come close to comparing to PRINCE!!! HOLY SHIT!!! IT'S PRINCE!!! He performed 2 songs in a definite surprise performance (thanks to Jill for thinking of me at this holy moment) and showed everyone what a real performer can do with a microphone. Not too many people can upstage Prince and last night was proof of that. I'm still tempted to pay the $320 for a single ticket to one of his concerts.

Then in an anticlimactic moment, Taylor is announced as the American Idol winner. In the words of Roommate-Adam, "what is the difference between the winner and the runner-up? The top 4 will all get recording contracts..." How true, how true!

There ya have it, the most successful reality TV show in history is done for another season. It now frees up my Tuesday and Wednesday nights (no, I won't be watching the Dancing competition reality show). I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I did. Prince rules!!

Oh yeah, Golf was better last night... I start my lessons next week so we'll see if they can help my consistency (or lack there of). Enjoy Thursday with only one more day to get through till the weekend! Hazel gets home tonight from Boston!!!

Song of the Day - Gotta be Prince today. No matter what he sings, he rules!

Video of the Day - nothing new, but I should pull out a mention to Prince's Purple Rain which isn't a horrible movie by any measure, just some good performances of old-school Prince!

Webpage of the Day - How does one steal a 600 pound Buddha Sculpture? It's like stealing a 6 foot wooden Indian from Hunkies.... how does one do it? I can sleep better now that the Buddha was found and returned to the restaurant.

Back At Work

The Vacation was nice, but it's back to the work world since neither of my Powerball tickets came through for me. 2000+ miles in a car later and I'm still alive to tell about it.

First, some really good news for Rochester folks. LITTLE CAESARS IS NOW OPEN!!!!! Roommate Adam and I had it last night for dinner and boy is it good!!! They have the $5 pepperoni or cheese pizzas, and of course lots of crazy bread. That's the good stuff! I can now prove to Hazel that I can indeed eat pizza every day (and probably for every meal if I wanted to try).

American Idol Finale tonight. They sang last night and I was disappointed to sum it up. Katharine sang her better songs but they were far too recent for them to have any impact. And I still think Taylor isn't as good as everyone thinks he is from a musical perspective. I would have rather have seen Chris and Elliott in the final two but I didn't vote enough times. The two "new" songs/singles that were sung last night - both of them sucked but I thought the opposite of the judges, Katharine's was better than Taylor's. Per the DialIdol tool (which has correctly predicted who's getting voted off 90% of the time), Taylor will win tonight.

The Apprentice is down to the final two as well. I actually have grown to be more impressed with the final two and between Lee and Sean, I think either might do ok. I was quite thankful that Trump fired both of the girls after seeing their nasty cattiness. Very immature. I also thought that Lee and Sean both got screwed out of a decent reward on Monday's episode.... having dinner with the Trump Kids isn't my idea of a "reward" when I compare it with golfing with Vijay Singh.

Tonight is golf league again. See how rusty I became after the past 2 weeks. It is supposed to be back in the 80s again today and through the weekend! Didn't it almost snow last week?

Oh, and thanks for the heads-up Pitzen, big sale at cyclones.com for all of you wanting Iowa State clothing/stuff (which should be everyone right?). All of my family in Nebraska should convert to the better school. We'll be winning since the game is back in Ames this year! Should have won last year dangit.

4 DAYS TILL THE TRAVOLTAS!!! CAN YA FEEL IT?!??!

Finally - McDonald's claims their new Chicken Sandwich is just as good as Chik-fil-A's.... I highly doubt that. We need a Chik-fil-A in Rochester now that we have Little Caesar's. And a Hardee's for breakfast items!!

Song of the Day - I am still laughing about this.... my dad got an MP3 player (non-Apple... didn't know they made non-iPod MP3 players! jk) and wanted me to put some music on it for him till he got home. I only had some disco (in anticipation of the Travoltas!) on my harddrive so I filled his MP3 player with this disco for the time being. On the return trip from Kentucky on Monday, I had my iPod playing some good tunes (as always) and my dad was listening to his headphones. He had his eyes shut and then I could hear him singing in a real low voice "In the Navy............ .In the Navy....... In the Navy....." without consideration to everyone else in the car. Pretty funny but then about 10 minutes later he broke out the "Mach-O-Mach-O Man....." So today, I'll continue to play Disco today.

Book of the Day - I finished the Stephen King Cell that I had borrowed from my mom. It's his newest book and it's about a modern world that gets hit with a "pulse" that is transmitted through cell phones. So the only people who don't turn into zombies are the people without cellphones for one reason or another. It's interesting and was a quick read (unusual for the long-winded King)..... but definitely different. Onto my next book now.

Webpage of the Day - An interesting list of "History's 100 Most Influential People" (no, Britney did not make the list). I found it odd that Jesus is #3 on the list, but if you read as to the rationale, it humbles one a little bit.... still not sure that I'd put Newton above Jesus, but whatever..... interesting read none-the-less.

Back in Rochester

I'm home after a very long day of riding in a car yesterday. I am using today to catch up around the house and do errands before running to work. All together, it was about 14 hours in a car coming back from Kentucky yesterday.

The service on Saturday went well and the weather was incredible up in the mountains. After the service we had a big picnic for everyone at the cabins that my family was staying in. That's when the excitement started. There was a stomach virus going around and people started getting it one by one over the next day. We drove back to KY on Sunday with my dad in full pain from the virus. He was much better by Monday, but now my Mom has it (and my aunt). I high tailed it out of reach from the virus as fast as I could yesterday and am safe in Rochester. I cleaned 100% of the clothes I took with me last night to kill any bacteria that was following me. I hate getting sick. I feel good this morning so I'm hoping that I'm safe.

Hazel is having a blast out in Boston with her nursing coworkers. They are out there for a conference with some professional shopping on the side. She returns Thursday night.

One thing I realized this week being with a lot of family that is separated by many miles unfortunately, how this shouldn't prevent us from getting together. This was the most time I have spent with my cousins from Florida in many years and it brought some regrets that I have waited so long to catch up. I am thankful we had a chance to get together and am looking forward to the wedding in August of the younger of my two cousins in Ohio. Always a good time:)

Have a great day and my normal day starts tomorrow!

Vacation Update, Day 1

You can tell it's further south down here. The flowers are all in full bloom, as are the trees. Looks like June down here. No threats of snow in May down here, unlike back home.

Elliott (not the nephew) is gone from AI. I'm not sure I believe the percentages that they presented for the votes. I think Taylor will win and will be a one album hit wonder. Katharine might actually do better in the long run if she's marketed correctly.

Tonight we have a soccer game for the real Elliott to attend. The Whiz Kids play at 6:30 and hopefully we can avoid the rain tonight.

Here's some pics of the boys with some of their new toys. It was like Christmas around here yesterday for some reason!

Happy HumpDay!!

Quick updates before we start the long drive to Kentucky....

AI - Interesting night... still think Chris should have won this thing. My ranking: Kat, Elliott, Taylor. Even though I think Taylor will win, I just think he is better suited to sing on a Cruise Ship, rather than on American Idol. I agree with Simon though that Elliott will be going home this week unfortunately. At least we'll see him on the American Idol tours all summer long!!!

I went to the Doctor last night here in Cedar Rapids to look at my toe. Mom and dad thought the cut from Monday night was pretty deep and I should get a stitch or two. I told them to get the needle and thread because I'm too cheap and stubborn to go to a doctor for a flesh wound!! They dragged me in there and the doctor said they don't do stitches more than 6 hours after the cut. He thought they might have done it last night if I went in, but I'd be fine. I still have never had a stitch on the outside of my body!!!! HAHA!! He put some anti-biotic on it, band-aid on top, then gave me a prescription for some antibiotics for the week. Since it's been less than 5 years since my last tetanus shot, I am good to go there.

Off to Kentucky I go! No bass for this trip Brian, sorry to disappoint. Pictures of the nephew folk coming soon!

Have a great Wednesday!

I'm On My Way.....

My Vacation starts today after work. There will be a lot of driving and sitting in the car, but anything that doesn't involve me having to go to work for the next week.

Tonight I will be going to Iowa to my parents' house. My grandmother is meeting us there as well tonight. Then in the morning, all 4 of us are driving to Kentucky (about an 11 hour drive) to my Brother's house. We will spend two nights there with him, the wonderful nephews, and my sister-in-law before leaving Friday for the mountains of western North Carolina. My Aunt Nyla that passed away in March... we are having a memorial service for her there at her family's cabin that they've been going to for as long as I can remember. I've never been there but I know the people that have been there absolutely love it. Away from city noise, airplanes, all that stuff that clogs the airwaves. We are burying her ashes this weekend as well. There will be a lot of family from my mom's side which will be great to see everyone. Hazel is not going with since she already had plans to go see her other boyfriends in Boston this weekend and next week. She told me she has a "nursing convention" but I saw right through that excuse.

I'll continue to blog as I can, depending on where I can find network connections. I'll share some photos of the family and of course of the wonderful mountains out there. I'm excited to get out of the midwest for the week.

Tammy was fired from The Apprentice last night, leaving Trump with 4 idiots that he has to decide which one will be least detrimental to his company. I personally wouldn't hire any of them. Too bad because the love affair between Tammy and Sean was kind of fun to watch. I think Allie is cold hearted and just an immature brat at this point. It's funny how the three women are BFF until one of them has to get fired and then they all start turning on each other. My pick to win it all is probably Lee. He has the business mentality (or knows how to play the game) more than anyone else.

I sliced my toe open last night while I was hauling away the excess dirt for my flower garden. I'm almost done, just waiting for the two rose bushes to show up at this point. But carrying tubs full of dirt weighing probably 100 pounds isn't fun. Tripping over the gas valves outside while wearing sandals and slicing your big toe open isn't fun either. Still pretty blue today but at least it stopped bleeding. Wonder where I could find a nurse to look at it and see if it's infected.....

Ok, enough for today. I will be in contact soon, although it might be brief! Take care and have a great week y'all!!

Song of the Day - Thanks to the heads up of my good friend Kahn, I picked up the Party Polka CD from the Rochester Library that I had on reserve. This thing is awesome with 20 of the best Polka songs out there. It is reinspiring me to practice the accordion again in preparation of Oktoberfest. Can't ever have too much Polka music right?!?! I'll keep looking at the library for more CDs the next time I am there. I did find it interesting that it is categorized under "Dance"....

Video of the Day - I watched two movies to comment about this past weekend. First was the dumb Fun With Dick and Jane with Jim Carey playing his usual character. The plot was pretty dumb, even though I thought it was clever timing to produce a movie while all the corporate scandals of Enron, Worldcom, etc. are still fresh in our minds. The other strange movie I watched was Stay with Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts, and Ryan Gosling ("I love those cupcakes like".... nevermind). Anyone else seen it yet? I am going to rewatch it and see if I enjoy it more the 2nd time around but it's one of those movies that you never really understand the entire time you're watching and when it ends, you don't get a strong reaction one way or the other.

Webpage of the Day - This cracked me up. A group in NYC has 80 people dressed in Bold Blue shirts and khaki pants then go into a Best Buy to just stand around looking like the employees. It's funny how the management of Best Buy thinks there is going to be a bomb or a big heist when all they were doing was having some perfectly legal fun. I also liked the idea of doing the same thing at a Target. A long but enjoyable read! Make sure to check out the video towards the middle half!

Monday in the Hizz-ous

Winter is finally over here in Rochester. We had some moments where I thought it might snow on Saturday. Fishing season opened with snow flurries on the lakes.

The Walk-a-thon was great on Saturday morning, despite the 41 degree temperature and the drizzle (fo' shizzle) for the entire walk. The coordinator estimated that there were over 100 walkers despite the weather. It was a very nice walk around Lake Herriot which turned out to be around 3 miles. I met a guy who was walking in honor of his wife and 3 kids. His wife is one of the few that actually developed preeclampsia twice for two different pregnancies. I was honored to wear my shirt with Shelly's picture on it and remember her for the morning.

Shelly's daughter, Hailey, also participated in the Davenport walk. Here's a picture with "Happy" (From Happy Joe's Pizza... Kahn's favorite) from this weekend:


I was able to get my day lilies planted yesterday. They're still pretty early but once my roses are in the ground, I can take some photos to share. I do have two bins full of dirt (the recycling bins) that weigh more than you think two bins full of dirt would weigh. So still trying to figure out how to get rid of that but these are minor details.

The Da Vinci Code opens this week and I probably won't make it to it this weekend. But very soon. I despise going to movies in the theatres, but I can make an exception for this one. I am one of those smart asses that can't keep his mouth shut during movies so the list of people that won't go to movies with me anymore continues to grow (Eddie, I think you're first on that list). So out of courtesy of others that spent $40 to get into the theatre, I refrain from making an appearance. This movie should be good and hopefully as enjoyable as the book. For those that are reading about all the "controversy" over the film.... remember that it's fiction. I read a lot of fiction books that I enjoy, but don't necessarily believe when I read. The people that are going to have issues with the movie are the same ones that can't distinguish between reality and fiction. I can enjoy a book about Aliens by Stephen King without thinking that they really are coming every 30 years to eat my children!

Hockey is starting to get exciting with the final 5 left. Hopefully my future 2 weeks entails lots of playoff hockey watching! I suggest you do the same!

Song of the Day - I broke out the Beastie Boys on Friday and this weekend. Hello Nasty is still my favorite album start to finish, but some of their better songs are on their other albums. They are one of the few bands left on my "to see live" list. They and Pearl Jam. I had Pearl Jam tickets but they shipped me out to Poughkeepsie instead for work so I had to give up my tickets. I was pissed.

Video of the Day - The Terminator was on this weekend. I forgot how uninspiring the first one was when compared to T2. Arnold has maybe 2 lines in the entire movie which fully qualifies him for governor of California. The 80s hairdos are my favorite part.

Webpage of the Day - Now is the time with Season Finales, and with Malcom in the Middle, the Series Finales. This is a list of the top 10 finales per one man's opinion. I did watch the finale to My Name Is Earl which I enjoyed. Gave more in depth look at how he came across the money and had some good things to say about the ever enjoyable concept of Karma.

HAVE A GREAT MONDAY!!!

Happy Mother's Day 2006!!

For all of you mothers that are loyal readers, for all of you mothers-to-be (including any "un-named" expectants in the next week or so), and especially for what seems like the million of you new mothers in the past year....

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

Today will be dedicated to all of you (since I usually don't blog on the weekends.

Mother's Day was actually started during the American Civil War, not by someone with the last name "Hallmark". Julia Ward Howe tried to unite women against the war by writing the Mother's Day Proclamation. This concept was continued by Anna Jarvis in 1858 who tried to establish a Mothers' Work Day to better the war effort for the women involved. But it was her daughter (also named Anna Jarvis) who successfully established the first memorial day for women on May 10, 1908 - in Grafton, West Virginia.

In 1914, President Wilson declared the first national Mother's Day. Within 10 years, the holiday became so commercialized that Jarvis became a major opponent to what the holiday had become.

Interesting side notes, in 1973, the USPS was held up for 8 days because of the letters and cards that are now sent. AT&T claims that Mother's Day is one of their busiest days of the year for their networks.

So with that in mind, I now present to you some tributes to the Mothers out there in the form of comedy. Some of the funnier clips I've seen in a while on the web:

• A newer one of two brothers taking a photo for mom. How typical is this of two brothers? Has sound that you don't want to miss.
• An actual movie starring Mr. T about treating your mother right. Again, has sound for enhancement. Gotta love the 80s!!

In honor of one of the special mothers out there that is no longer with us..... I am walking in the 2nd annual Preeclampsia Walk-a-Thon in Minneapolis tomorrow. It's a 3 mile walk around Lake Harriet. I will be walking in memory of my dear friend Shelly Bridgewater who was an amazing mother although her time as such was cut way too short. But not to worry - her daughter is doing so well and has all the love from people all over the world to support her as she continues to grow. Shelly, we miss you so much but I know you're around.

Some of my own mom's favorites for you to enjoy today:

Song of the Day - My mom (as I've said before) is a Beatles nut, as well as a huge fan of the Rolling Stones. I get my love of music from her, although there's very little music anymore that we have in common. Except Ozzy. My mom is a HUGE Ozzy fan (she won't actually admit it though). CAUSE MAMA... MAMA I'M COMIN' HOOOOOOOOOOME. That's her favorite song.

Video of the Day - My ma is also a huge fan of the movies To Kill a Mockingbird, and Out of Africa. She loved the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and all the faddish Harry Pottertop movies. It is out of spite towards my mother that I told her I would never jump on the Harry Potter bandwagon.

Webpage of the Day - Hmmm... my mom's favorite webpages include MY BLOG!!! and I know she loved the one with the guy dancing last week. Don't worry mom, I'm working on the Worm for the August wedding! Not sure what other webpages she likes but I'll find out for you!

Have a great weekend!! See you on the flip side!!

And Then There Were Three

Just remember, if you don't vote, you can't b**ch. So Chris goes home last night on American Idol, despite what most of the women readers out there will think. But how many of you picked up the phone last to vote and show your support? Exactly. Elliott got my vote and he's around another week. It'll be interesting as the only one that is probably truly longterm marketable is Katharine. But I also think at this point in the game, she's the weakest link.

Unan1mous is over.... and boy was I disappointed. Not sure if anyone else has been following, but it was actually in the top 20 last week for ratings overall. Being after American Idol probably helps that. Tiara went home with $380K (from a starting $1.5 million) and crying the whole time. I still think Adam should have screwed her over and voted against her. I know I would have. TANSTAAFL!!!!!

Golf was pretty horrible last night, although I did par #1, and bogeys on #2 and #3. I would have parred #3 but Emerich told me to aim left for some reason. Last time I listen to him. He's fired as my caddy. Might have some skin money coming on #1.

This has been the big week for Video Games out at the E3 conference in California. The subject of interest to me is the details (although still pretty vague and elusive) of the new Nintendo, now called Wii. (As in.... I'm riding down a rollercoaster and I scream WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE). They have demos out on gamespot's webpage that are pretty sweet. Including the new "Zapper" gun for the new Duck Hunt that will be coming out. They also show some of the advantages to the new controller with some folks playing tennis. It's pretty sweet if you ask me! Take a look if you're interested.

This weekend is Mother's Day. Have you sent a card yet? Just a friendly reminder from your favorite BigShow.

Song of the Day - I can tell you three songs that are NOT the song of the day because I'm tired of hearing them right now. First is Bad Day which they play EVERY DANG WEEK on American Idol. Song was ok till they played it every 5 minutes on the radio. I also am tired of Be Without You by Mary J. Blige. Song isn't that good anyways. And Hazel's favorite song, You're Beautiful by James Blunt. She knows how much I hate that song and make fun of it so as soon as it comes on the radio, she'll turn it. I have her well trained.

Video of the Day - This one's pretty sweet. I personally hate Pachelbel's Cannon (the one you hear at EVERY wedding) but this version on electrical guitar is pretty awesome. March down the aisle with this playing and everyone in the church would KNOW you're cool!!

Webpage of the Day - there are a lot of neat things out at thinkgeek.com that some of you (me included) might enjoy. Thanks to CTJ for showing me the LED faucet that would look good in every home. I don't have the right sinks, unless I install it in the kitchen. That might work.

Four Going On Three

American Idol Discussion:

Now we're down to business. All 4 have their moments, but the more I watch, the more I am impressed with Elliott. So he got my vote last night. My rankings from last night (and info for those that don't watch):

1) Elliott - the "Wild Card" guy that has been on the brink of extinction every week but he also is the one person that from the start seems to have improved and taken the advice of others to heart. That alone impresses me a lot, let alone his constant choosing of the most difficult songs every week and nailing them. I seriously want to see him stick around another week but I have a bad feeling that his time is up with the rest of America.

2) Chris - the Rocker that I think deep down, all of us want to see win this thing. I was scared when he announced his picks of Elvis tunes, but his rendition of A Little More Satisfaction was pretty dang cool.

3) Taylor - his "act" is getting old. He's a decent performer and pretty good vocalist (as proven with Eric Cartman's In The Ghetto last night), but is he really destined to sell record after record? I think Simon fears this as well and thus is very critical of him. I think he's around another week, but can he really win this thing?

4) Katharine - the Theory Book version of "American Idol". She has the vocal style, the appearance, the personality of what has typically been defined as the winner of this thing. Reminds me a lot of Kelly Clarkson in many different ways. But she was pretty crappy last night in my opinion. She's the only girl left which will probably help her (girls always get special treatment in life.... ask any cop). Some weeks I think she can win, others (like last night) I think she should be at home watching the boys fight it out.

So there it is.... we'll find out if I'm right or not tonight. Plus the final episode of Unan1mous is on tonight. The show is actually doing better in the standings than I thought, but that probably has some help from following American Idol.

The work around my townhouse is coming right along. I finished the great cable rewiring project last night. I have to buy a face plate, but it's rewired and I no longer have a wire running over my doorway and closet to the TV. Now I can start thinking about painting that room, probably this Fall. I also planted some of my flowers into my planters that I do every year. Nothing fancy yet. My flowers from Holland should be here tomorrow (according to UPS).

And the World Cup starts in 30 days! I'm excited, and I see by the following picture, so is my nephew Elliott! I will be seeing the nephews in less than a week! Enjoy the picture.... he's the next Pele ya know!


Song of the Day - It's officially Elvis Day for me. He has such wonderful songs, a lot of which should not be redone. Elvis had the ability to mix pop, gospel, and a little bit of early rock in his voice alone. There will probably never be another performer quite like Elvis - thus what makes him so popular even today. I still have Don't playing right now as one of my favorites.

Video of the Day - The last of my movies from this past weekend was Chicken Little (The Disney one, not the American Idol one). It was a cute flick, but not worth buying in my opinion. I do enjoy watching the evolution of the graphics with each animated movie that comes out. We've come a long way, even since the Toy Story days.

Webpage of the Day - Entertainment Weekly's list of "Twenty Scariest Movies". Only a few that I haven't seen, including Rosemary's Babyby Roman Polanski. I will have to add that one to my Netflix queue. Funny part was seeing Evil Dead on there as I wouldn't call it scary. That might have more to do with the fact that Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness are some of the funnier movies I've ever seen. "Good, Bad, I'm the guy with the gun".

Have a great Wednesday!

A Little Less Conversation

I have the coolest girlfriend ever! Or at least for today! Hazel got me a subscription to USA Today which started coming yesterday. They deliver it with the mail so I read the day's news at the end of my day, but I do love that newspaper. My dad should be happy that I'm reading a newspaper, even if it is one of the more liberal ones out there. Better than wasting my time watching the crap on Fox News and such. Thank you Hazel!

Few things on my mind today. First, there's a new look to Yahoo! webpage, but only for those people using IE. If you're using Mozilla Firefox, it looks the same. Not sure what's up with that. But I saw this article about a dude losing 100 pounds by walking across America. It's actually a very good read (and inspirational enough that he made Oprah.... you're a nobody till you make it on Oprah - says Hazel) and something I should try. I am down my first 10 pounds in my quest to lose weight. I'm actually down 20 over what I was late last year so I'm well on my way. Trying to lose another 20 by 4th of July - we shall see. Best part of the guy's webpage was the URL..... TheFatManWalking.com. Nice!

I have some new ideas for smells for Candles that I should submit to Yankee Candles or whatever. First one is the smell of a Brewery once the Yeast has been added. I love that smell! When you know it's not ready to drink, but there's still a hint at the good flavoring. I also thing there should be one of fresh cut lawns in mid summer, with the grass stains all over your shoes. There should be one with the smell of gasoline too, not sure why I like that smell. I also would like one the smell of Play-dough, and magic markers. Yes, I'm known as the marker sniffer in my Leadership Class. They actually have these cool ones though that are scented that we had in class. I loved these things and was caught many times smelling them. Yum! Another cool smell would be of Granny Rolfsmeier's (yes, I spelled that correctly) kitchen when she was cooking that coffee cake. I loved going over there when she was cooking up a storm. Small apartment that was full of the smell of goodies and all the stuff that Mom wouldn't want me eating. But Great-Grandmother's have the trump card over everyone else as far as what I can eat and what I can't eat. Just like Grandmother's have that same trump card over my mother. And mom has the trump card over girlfriends;) The natural evolution of authority in a man's life.

The other thing I saw this morning that I know will piss some people off. It actually bothered me, even how liberal I am. I see the rainbow triangles and that doesn't phase me.... but this morning I saw a girl with numerous liberal bumper stickers and she also had a Jesus Fish sticker on the back of her car - with a rainbow inside the fish. That isn't cool even in my mind. To each his or her own though I guess, but that one is bound to upset some people.

Song of the Day - Tonight is Elvis night on American Idol, so here are my "top 4" Elvis songs (it's so hard to pick only 4 but I'll try) - Viva, Las Vegas!, Can't Help Falling In Love, All Shook Up, Don't. With In The Ghetto getting honorable mention ONLY because of it's fame from my Southpark days and Eric Cartman singing it to Kenny. It'll be interesting to see what is chosen to sing tonight.

Video of the Day - Another movie I saw this last weekend was Unleashed which has Jet Li and Morgan Freeman. It's a violent movie, but pretty interesting. I liked it enough to recommend it if you're in that mood to watch a lot of butt kicking with little plot. Morgan Freeman plays so many different characters, and plays them well. He doesn't do any fighting in this movie though.

Webpage of the Day - I think I'm one of maybe 20 people in the US that is still watching The Apprentice 5. It's down to 5 folks (none of them impress me enough to hire) and it's been a pretty pathetic season. I do have to say that I have been going to the webpage though and found the link above to "Lessons Learned" that takes an episode summary, and the TRUMP UNIVERSITY analyzes it to point out what they did well, and what they didn't do so well. It's good from a business perspective to see what is suggested to do rather than the screw ups that we see on the show week after week. Note: The link above has spoilers, but currently is still on last week's Lesson.

Monday Madness

Bumper Sticker of the Day (seen yesterday on Broadway): Don't Drink and Park: Accidents Cause Lives

Not sure why I thought that was so funny and unique - but wanted to start Monday off with a bang! What a productive weekend with perfect weather for getting things done. I was able to lay down the liner for my new flower garden which of course took me an hour longer than I thought it would. I got a lot of work done on Hazel's yard as well as some little things that needed to get done at both of our houses. She worked all weekend so it was a great time to get caught up.

I had an article sent to me about a Des Moines woman that had her family kicked out of an all-you-can-eat place because they were "wasting food". This is an interesting subject because the AMERICAN WAY says its ok to gorge yourself at a buffet place to become obese and if you waste food, who cares. I personally back the business in this case. While buffets are convenient, they shouldn't allow customers to become careless. What lessons are the kids learning with this whole ordeal? I've stayed away from Chinese Buffets for a long time now because that is the easiest way to get sick and I doubt many people will agree. It's easy to overeat there and I'd much rather just order a normal chinese meal (From China One of course) than do the buffet thing and feel gross.

Some sports to discuss - Bonds hit #713 last night. For some reason I don't mind the guy and I think he's one of the greatest pure hitters we'll ever see in my generation, even more than Tony Gwynn. I think it's ridiculous how the man can't enjoy the fact that he's still playing over the age of 40 because the media just swarms him wherever he goes. As for the juicing controversy.... they're all doing it which doesn't make it right. But I don't like how the focus is all on him when the issue is much larger than just Barry Bonds. He is now 1 HR short of Babe Ruth's record which he'll obviously get. I don't think he wants to break Aaron's record but we shall see.

And in hockey.... Bryzgalov is unreal to watch right now for Anaheim. He is at 11 straight scoreless periods (3 periods per game for the hockey-challenged out there) and is currently #4 in longest ice time without giving up a goal in the playoffs. Good stuff to watch. I'm still shocked that Carolina whooped up on New Jersey on Saturday. Some good stuff going on right now in the 2nd round!

This is my last full week of work for a little while. I am vacationing next week some with my family as we're all going to North Carolina. More details on that later. Plus with Memorial Day Weekend coming, it makes for a lot of short and very nice weeks in the near future.

Song of the Day - I pulled out some classic Grunge this weekend and just had on Smashing Pumpkins' Bullet With Butterfly Wings. Great song and great introduction. Nice song to piss of the neighbors with.

Video of the Day - I also was able to catch up on movies this weekend. First to discuss is the classic movie (and Stoen favorite) Smokey and the Bandit. I hadn't seen this in a very long time. A lot of funny moments in it. I also watched the sequel that wasn't nearly as good but came on the same DVD as the first one from Netflix. Although the addition of Dom DeLuise was a great one! I like him.

Webpage of the Day - A fun game for this morning. Use the mouse button to attach yourself to the blocks at the top and swing away..... 352 meters on my 5th try.

A Special Day

Today is a very special day indeed!

FIRST

Today is Cinco de Mayo which is Mexico's celebration over the French. I think every country outside of Europe has an "independence" type day and most of those are celebrating victories over either the English or the French. Anyways, quick history lesson for the morning so you can sound smart in front of your friends today.

In 1862, French soldiers marched onto Mexico City well armed and were going to seize the capital to continue the period known as "The French Intervention in Mexico". General Zaragoza and his 4500 soldiers intervened and prevented the French from getting to Mexico City. The French Emperor then sent 30,000 more soldiers who this time succeeded in defeating the Mexico army by 1864 and making Archduke Maximillian of Austria the new "Emperor of Mexico". But using Zaragoza's effort as inspiration, the Mexican rebels used weapons from the US Military (now that the US civil war was "over") to fight back and by 1867, they had ousted the French from their capital. This paved the way for the next 150 years of people selling things in the streets asking "you like? How much" and dreams of jumping the fence into America where they can march for illegal immigrant's rights.

SECOND

Today is Buddha's Birthday! Happy Birthday Buddha! I'll have to get him a party hat at home tonight. It is traditionally celebrated on the eighth day of the fourth month in the Chinese Calendar. Which is today in 2006. In Japan, his birthday is this upcoming Monday so it's like having a 4 day birthday! How cool would that be? Everyone should have a 4 day birthday celebration every year! For the record, it is estimated that Buddha would have been 2569 years old today.

FINALLY

This weekend marks a new record for me! It will be an entire 6 MONTHS with the amazing and incredibly beautiful Miss Hazel. Can you believe it? She's not tired of me yet so here's to hoping for another 6 months at least together. We are celebrating by Hazel working and I am working on my flowers and some other things around the houses. BTW, I called and my flowers that I ordered are "on a boat from Holland". It's nice to know in a world where we outsource our jobs to China and India in hopes of saving money, we are now outsourcing our plant work to Holland. I still think that's cool to say my flowers are coming from Holland. Works for me.

Song of the Day - I got a couple of emails reminding me that my version of Prince's Kiss was much much better and more entertaining than Paris's performance the other night on AI. So I am still in a Prince mode today and some of my favorites are Purple Rain (did they ever play that for me at Drew's wedding? There's a large hole in my memory from that night), Raspberry Beret (the kind you find in a secondhand store), and of course the ever popular.... PU**Y CONTROL!!! Mom, you probably have never heard that Prince song.

Video of the Day - Next in the series of introducing characters for The Da Vinci Codemovie: Sir Leigh Teabag. At least when I read the book, I see the name as "Tea-bag"... it's funnier that way.

Webpage of the Day - Post office has new "Forever" stamp. Buy them now at 39 cents and no matter what they go up to in the future, you can use this stamp. Not a bad idea to stock up on them and you'll never buy stamps again. I use about 3 per month on my 1 bill I still mail in, and 2 cards I send per month on average. Yes, I'm a guy and I send cards to people. Deal with it.

Cuatro de Mayo

Speaking of four, there are only four left on American Idol. Paris went home, which was pretty much everyone's pick to go next. I did vote by the way (for Elliott) so I did my job as an American (Idol) Citizen! Elvis week next week which means only good music will be sung!!

Tiger Woods' father passed away yesterday. In our best effort to pay tribute to him last night with our golf game, we came up very short. Sorry Earl. I'm about ready for some lessons in order to get my game back on track. I did have a nice sand out to about 5 feet though. Too bad I missed the par putt that followed. Stupid golf. At least it was perfect weather for it.

I'm actually out of things to talk about this morning - so I'll stop there. Just not very creative today for some reason.

One webpage to share with you that made me laugh. It's the Evolution of Dance. You must have music for this one. I can do most of the dances in this thing, and the ones I can't - I sure wish I could do them;)

Go Go Gadget Sunlight

My Grandmother (Grams for short) is pretty cool. She called me last night and informed me that she was watching Walker, Texas Ranger - one of her favorite shows. Now I know a lot of us talk the talk about how kick ass Chuck Norris is, but how many of us actually sit down and watch him roundhouse kick other people on a regular basis? I know I don't. But my devoted Grams does and for that I admire her. Just remember, the Transformers went into hiding following the 80s since they had heard that Chuck Norris had killed off all of the Go-Bots.

AI was on last night. It was a weird night, but I think the competition is finally to the higher level where all 5 singers that are left are worthy of a CD. And once again, Paula seemed drunk or high, take your pick. I was hoping that Paris would select one of Paula's songs to sing since she had the task of finding a good piece to sing from 1988. She chose Kiss by Prince which everyone that reads this knows is my song and my song only! I think the video is still out on my work webpage of me doing karaoke to that.

My ranking from last night:

Katharine
Chris
Taylor
Elliott
Paris

We'll have to see later tonight. I do wish I could be on American Idol now and only for the sole purpose of wanting to hear Paula's commentary and every time she stutters, I would interrupt her by saying "what?" or "huh?" That'd be pretty funny. I wouldn't last long I'm sure. I'm not TV pretty remember?

The second step in my simple landscaping project is done. I filled up my garbage container with the grass and dirt that I dug up last night. We'll see how pissed off the garbage guy is today when they come around to collect. So you can now tell where I'm planting my flowers that are coming this weekend (I think). I need to make the area square and maybe dig the hole a little deeper - probably tomorrow night. Then I am ready for the liner and edging material to be laid out. Then hopefully have some nice flowers planted this weekend. I'll take pictures when all is said and done, don't worry.

Quick Sports talk - NBA had some good games with a lot of teams going up 3-2 in the series (Heat, Nets, Spurs) and Phoenix not ready to fold yet against the evil Lakers. We'll see what happens to finish up the first round but no huge surprises yet. NHL - it's interesting how in the Eastern Conference, the 1, 2, 3, and 4 seeds all advanced to the 2nd round. And if Anaheim can win game 7 on the road in the Western Conference, the 5, 6, 7, and 8 seeds will all advance. Interesting, interesting. I think Hockey is the one sport where home ice really doesn't matter in the playoffs.

Song of the Day - back to AI, I can't stand Mary J. Blige's Be Without You since it's on the radio every 5 minutes. I did think it was funny to hear Renegade and it's honestly still stuck in my head. I don't think it's that great of a song but I do think Styx had some other good songs that I might go check out today on iTunes.

Video of the Day - Close call on a dude speeding through an intersection. Not sure what he was thinking but makes you wonder how lucky the guy that was actually paying attention was. Probably some high school girl on a cell phone that didn't see the red light.

Webpage of the Day - this made me laugh. Thanks Christine!

A Blog 100% Filled With Immigrants Today

Yesterday was Immigration/Deportation Day. It should have been Deportation Day. My team here at IBM celebrated by showing up for an 8+ hour work day even though we have an Irish guy, a German guy, a co-op born in Jamaica, an immigrant from Iowa, and wherever Peep Show's background is from. Yes, I am the immigrant all the way from Iowa, but I decided to work yesterday.

I don't get what the "Day Without Immigrants" was for even though I've read article after article about it the past couple of days. If you're here illegally.... you are a criminal. I wouldn't expect to get full benefits if I just decided to up and move to Ireland, although I would expect after a while I would become a Guinness Brewmaster. How cool would that be? What does it take to earn the title of "Brewmaster"? Something for me to look up today.

Speaking of Deportation...... The Detroit Red Wings need to deport Manny Legace after the idiot single-handedly gave Edmonton the series last night. How the #@)$(*#@$@#$ does someone give up 4 goals in the third period? Manny needs to stay away from Detroit for a while otherwise he's likely to be knocked off for being such a shitty goal tender. Edmonton did play well but Detroit played like crap. It'll be interesting to see who comes back next year as Chelios is 44 and Yzerman is 40 with multiple injuries that keep him from being 100%. Legace has head injuries and probably could be diagnosed as legally blind after I watched him last night.

American Idol tonight - I will be able to watch since there are no more rehearsals. And I can vote too! Still think it's ironic that more people vote for AI in 2 hours every week than we have every 4 years for our president of the United States (with polls open all day long). Maybe our voting people should take marketing lessons from Fox???? or not. I respect the position of "American Idol" more than the other one. And I'm still somewhat following The Apprentice. With crybaby now gone (and Tarek who I thought might actually win the thing). So not sure what's going to happen but I do like the expressions that Carolyn gives in the board room that basically shows us that she doesn't think anyone is deserving of winning this thing. They need to do some serious work next year to save this show.

And the last thing I forgot about mentioning late last week is the new Nintendo has a new, but weird, name. Wii (pronounced "we"). It's unusual, but instead of calling it Revolution that everyone kind of liked and was getting used to, Nintendo came up with Wii as a way of telling us that we're all kids at heart. Or that no matter how cool it will be, wii can't spell English words correctly. I wonder how long till the Spanish community starts marketing it as "Nintendo's nosotros" since everything else seems to revolve around them this week.

Song of the Day - Um..... In honor of Deportation Day, I'm bringing back a timeless classic. Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away). That sums up my feelings pretty well.

Video of the Day - It's coming - and I'm pumped! So Dark The Con Of Man!! I still think everyone should read the book before going to the movie but I know that won't happen. Takes about 2 days to read the book if you have a weekend you're not doing anything.

Webpage of the Day - Girlspeak to English Dictionary. Where has this been my whole life?

Happy May Day

If I remember right, May Day is the day that we used to put things on people's front door, ring the doorbell and then we'd run away. Then we'd hide behind a tree and watch them stamp out the flaming bag of poop with their boot. "He called the sh**, POOP!"

Concerts are over with for a couple of months. There's a summer pops concert that I am going to pass on this year. I will probably still go to hang out with my friends from La Crosse, but I really hated that experience last year of playing in the intense heat/rain/humidity. Real good for a wooden instrument! But the real stuff will start up again in October. And no, I intend on practicing this summer on some excerpts and solo stuff so I don't lose all of my skillz over the next 5 months.

This past weekend went really well in La Crosse. It was one of the more fun concerts I've played in recent history. Our soloist is one of the assistant musical directors of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. We premiered his new Jazz Piano Concerto and then he came out and stole the show with our performance of Rhapsody in Blue. Then a little encore with Troy (and on Saturday night, Rich as well) in a jazz combo which is different from most traditional LSO concerts. A great way to end the season. Too bad Terry who writes our reviews in the La Crosse Tribune, once again wrote a dud of a review for us from Friday Night. I swear that he doesn't even stick around for the full concert. Terry, if you don't enjoy what you're doing - find something new to write about. I'd be more than happy to write a review for you once a month. I don't even need your "auto-write" MS-Word Extension Tool that you seem to use every time. It only insults the musicians and it's starting to insult your readers in the community.

Three links that I found this morning for Hazel, but I thought I'd share with the rest of you. I used to be a big fan of bragging how well I can "multi-task". Then I found the research and did some tests that opened my eyes and showed me how multi-tasking is definitely a myth.

Creating Passionate Users: Your Brain on Multi-tasking
Why More Is Less - CIO Magazine
Leadership Expert Shatters the Myth of Multi-tasking

For those of you that want the highlites - The myth behind multitasking is a perception of how many things we have going on at one time vs how many things are we actually concentrating on? Look how when we are trying to read directions in a car, or read numbers on a house, we instantly turn the radio down to concentrate on the task at hand. The driving the car part of what we're doing is on autopilot - a task done by the lower part of the brain. A task that we focus on is done by the cerebrum part of the brain. The more we do a function, the more it becomes habit or a function done by the brain stem. All of our respiratory functions or autonomic functions are done by the brain stem. When we are driving a car, riding a bike - these are done by a similar part of the brain stem as the autonomic functions that we rarely have to think about.

But back to multi-tasking..... in a similar style, when we have tasks that are "no brainers" such as walking down the hall, or reciting the alphabet - those tasks are done without a conscience thought so we are free to focus on a more difficult task such as balancing our checkbook, solving a quadratic equation, or TALKING ON THE DANG CELL PHONE. The problem becomes in a situation when the background task requires that focus. Such as driving a car and talking on the cell phone. Not a problem till there's an individual in front of you slamming on the breaks. Then your focus is there, not on the phone. My gripe is the delay it takes most of us to change our focus from the phone to the driving the car part is getting worse and worse.

So there's my disprove for multi-tasking. Try it at home by trying to perform two tasks at the same time. Take out a piece of paper and begin writing down every city and state that you have lived in, traveled to, spent a night in a hotel with a stranger in... then as you are writing those down, begin reciting outloud, all of your family members names - including your grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. Both tasks are relatively easy when done separately. But as you try to do both at the same time, each task begins to suffer and not only does it take longer to do both tasks, but my bet is that the accuracy will also suffer. Hazel wanted a name for the ability to do many things at once... based on the articles above, it's not recommended and the only thing that you do when you try to "multi-task" is rob yourself of time and accuracy overall.

That's all I gots to say about that.

Song of the Day - Sledgehammer was on at the RAC this morning. And while I usually hate Peter Gabriel, I actually always thought the video for the song was funny.

Video of the Day - Late last week I watched Hostel which was directed by Eli Roth and Quentin Tarantino was one of the Executive Producers. It was a gross movie that I didn't really find overly scary. I was more freaked out from watching the Saw movies than I was with this one. There's a 2nd one being filmed I guess and I'm sure I'll be curious to see it. Don't waste your time on this one though. You'll never want to travel to Europe again.

Webpage of the Day - The guy from Friday is almost at 30,000,000 hits now. I'm still thinking some folks set up some automatic scripts to keep reloading the page so he would get more hits. Still pretty funny if you ask me. Today, I give you Reservoir Dogs reinacted in 30 seconds... by Bunnies!!